Deficit spending and non-emergency items like repairing the Smithsonian's roof prompted Sen. Pat Toomey to vote against Sandy relief money for his own constituents, the Jersey Shore and other storm victims.

In doing so, the Pennsylvania Republican and most of his GOP colleagues in the Senate broke from the Capitol Hill tradition of supporting emergency aid when disaster strikes regardless of cost.

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., and most of the state's delegation in the House, including Lehigh Valley Reps. Charlie Dent, R-15thDistrict, and Matt Cartwright, D-17thDistrict, voted for the relief bill.

The $50.5 billion bill, which cleared the Senate on Monday night and the House two weeks earlier, provides money for immediate assistance as well as long-term needs, such as flood mitigation, for states affected by the October superstorm.

President Barack Obama signed the bill into law Tuesday night. The House earlier passed another Sandy bill costing roughly $10 billion.

Pennsylvania, since receiving White House disaster declaration, is eligible to apply for funding under various categories, including $16 billion in Community Development Block Grants that the state can use to help residents affected by the storm.

On the Senate floor, Toomey said he supported emergency relief funding, but not when it included money unrelated to immediate storm-related needs, like repairs to NASA facilities and wind damage to the Smithsonian Institution's roof.

He also objected to adding to the federal deficit, as the bill does.

Emergency relief bills passed by Congress rarely are offset by cuts in other federal spending, much to the dismay of fiscal conservatives such as Toomey.

"Some people have used the occasion of the misery these people are suffering through to add on all kinds of spending that has absolutely nothing to do with Superstorm Sandy, and none of it is offset," Toomey told colleagues during a speech on the Senate floor. "So we have a $1.1 trillion budget deficit, and we are just adding another $60 billion right on top of that."

Pennsylvania initially was not eligible for disaster funding, because the state wasn't hit as hard as other states.

But Pennsylvania lawmakers, including Toomey and Casey, pushed successfully for a presidential emergency declaration for the state. The Federal Emergency Management Agency made 17 counties, including Northampton but not Lehigh, eligible for funding.

Pennsylvania already has received $22 million in reimbursements for expenses racked up preparing for the storm. That money came out of a federal disaster relief fund that existed before the Sandy bill passed with its supplemental funds.

Casey's spokeswoman, April Mellody, said the senator hopes to have 50 additional Pennsylvania counties declared disaster areas so they too can be eligible for immediate federal assistance. That money would come from funding provided by the Sandy relief bill.

Pennsylvania may also apply for Army Corps of Engineers money, small business disaster loans and repairs to Amtrak, she said.

Local and state governments tally up storm damage estimates to obtain federal disaster relief.